Reston Community Players opened this year’s season with the musical “Curtains,” a whodunit comedy, romance, and mystery story.

The musical is a “story within a story murder mystery” set in the backstage of a Boston theater where a new musical could be a great success, if not for its leading lady who lacks talent. When the leading lady is murdered during opening night, Lt. Frank Cioffi, who is a musical theater fan, arrives on the set to conduct his criminal investigation in order to solve the case.

Peter Stone's book, adapted for the stage by Rupert Holmes has the feel of a 1950s musical, complete with Wild West cowboys, dancing showgirls and numerous set pieces.

“Mayhem ensues and the murderer is found and there's lots of singing and dancing,” said the show’s director, Andrew Regiec. “Curtains” is a fairly new play, which debuted in 2006, and this is the first time it is being done in this area. The musical was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who also wrote “Cabaret” and “Chicago.”

“I heard about the play and wanted to make sure I was here during the opening night,” said Justice Manion of Reston. “It was hilarious, I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Regiec said working on the show has been challenging because of the large ensemble cast. He said watching the cast learn and improve has been exciting and the choreography is exciting.

“I loved the cast, I loved the story line and I especially loved the romance,” said Julie Easton of Herndon.

The show has a cast of about 24 and even the pit orchestra conductor has a few lines. The show runs just short of three hours with a 15 minute intermission between acts.